Broadway progress.

Friday at Broadway.

A sunny day at last, and brick laying resumed at Broadway after a week's pause.

 

John was working to finish the plinths on the back.

As you can see, the end and the front still need to be done.

 

It was also diesel driver experience day. The green Growler was out, with a rake of seven.

It feels strange to have an empty train. None of those passenger surges that hasten down the drive to go to Broadway village. A train arrives, the loco runs round, it leaves again.

The first driver really gave it the beans on the way out, so we lurked to record the second one. Nothing. That crept out at idling speed - dang !

Here is the Growler running round, past our P2 build project.

 

Once he had completed the plinths along the back, John went to the front to lay a second row there, on the fifth course.

At the end of the day only a short stretch of second row remained on the front. Plus the plinths on top of it. That'll be for next time, weather permitting.

There were three driver experience trips on Friday. Here is the Growler running round the third trip, seen through the pine trees planted to continue the original line along the lengthened platform. They were planted say 10 years ago, and most are doing really well.

Here's a last look at the site at the end of the day, seen from the footbridge. The five courses of blues are quite clear now.

Saturday, out with the gang.

A sunny day at last, so a good gang of 11, and plenty of people on the trains.

 

 

We were greeted by the sight of the new FO that has come to the railway.

The bodywork looks to be in very poor condition. (to the untrained eye)

PWay pundits reckon its got ETH and air brakes too.

 

Saturday's work was to be at Gotherington Skew yard. Lots of kit was assembled - the Ranger, the new Transit, a trailer, the mini digger and the Telehandler. And 11 volunteers, a good number. The sun was at the rendez-vous as well.

First we had to let the down train pass, which was headed by Dinmore Manor as it came off the Dixton straight.

This straight is very long... as experienced by Yours Truly. He drove all the way along it to place an advance warning board by the Preston Road bridge. Here there is a turning area, but it's on grass and that was also wet. The Transits are notorious (with us, anyway) for no traction at the rear end, so a three point turn was too risky as the Transit could well get stuck, with its nose against the track. So back to Gotherington Skew it was, all the way in reverse. And the same again at the end of the day, to pick up said advance warning board! What would be nice here would be a ballasted turning area, with a bit of a slope towards the track. A transit will spin its wheels even on ballasted ground, if level. (experience made at Didbrook...)

 

We split into two groups on arrival. One was to fill dumpy bags with ballast for later use, the other group was to change a number of damaged concrete sleepers and pack any dips that were spotted.

The first damaged sleeper was in Skew Bridge yard itself, under the haul road crossing. It was handy that the mini digger was there, as there was a lot to dig out.

We let the machine do the hard work.

After a while Dinmore Manor came back, with what looked like a well filled train. In fact catering reported a poor week, followed by a boom on Saturday. It's the autumn sunshine that brings them out.

Chose your weapons, men !

The sleeper (with a broken hoop) was hauled out by the Telehandler, and a new one half dragged in. That is as far as you can get with a Telehandler, which can only work forwards or backwards, but no sideways. The rest of the way it was heaving with bars. We got there in the end.

The hole was back filled and robelled, then move on.

Skew Bridge is a lovely area, with no signs of housing estates.

 

We then let the second down train through, this time hauled by 35006 P&O.

Lee, Simon and Yours Truly were sent as an advance guard to the next sleeper, which needed digging out. 

Here there was no mini digger, it's not what you know, it's who you know...

We dug a trench each side of the sleeper, and then the Telehandler came to yank it out, and pull in the replacement.

We just got this job done, when Dinmore came back out of the cutting.

Meanwhile Dave and Mike had been filling dumpy bags. These are tied at the bottom, so that they can be used to drop ballast in smaller amounts, rather than a whole Dogfish at once. We needed to create a new stock.

Then, another sunny picture of a passing loco. It was P&O, emerging from the Dixton cutting, with the Three Arch bridge behind.

 

 

With the train gone, Simon (newly qualified) used the Telehandler to move the bags to a storage area, from where they can be picked up by STEVIE when needed.

The gang then moved closer to Gotherington station for another sleeper change, and then cured a few more dips until it was time for tea at the Coffeepot. We made it, with 2 minutes to spare.

Looking across the scenery, it struck us that the field on the other side was suffering from a slow landslip, a phenomenon not unfamiliar to us. We have just had to deal with one, at some expense, in the Toddington north cutting, not the first one there either. It seems that even natural slopes will slip around here.

 

 

Monday on bricks

A last minute decision, in view of a very uncertain weather forecast. Whichever weather app you consult, they all seem to have a different point of view. Would it rain on Monday? Many thought yes, but maybe later in the day.

In fact it never rained at all, it was a glorious day, all day long.

 

 

 

We made a modest day of it though, as rain was expected in the afternoon, and we didn't want to get stuck with half a barrow of mortar, unused.

Another thing that slowed us down was the construction of this corner, which needed a lot of measuring and brick cutting.

It's an inward corner, followed by an outward one.

 

 

 

Having sorted the corner (s), John started to finish off the fifth row of blues at the front. Just a 5 yard stretch remained to be laid here.

 

Here is the corner at lunch time, when it was roughly completed. Still to come at that time: the pointing. It looks a lot neater now.

 

 

At the end of the day, and without the slightest drop of the forecast rain, the front stretch of blues was complete, and the plinth had come round the last corner and was starting to head down the front. John also made himself a lot of mini towers to work from, so that next time progress should be much faster.

Neal advised that another 65 rivets were inserted into the 4 project trusses (not 3 as we reported earlier, all that steelwork looks the same....) and what remains to be done now is to fabricate the two sides on each truss, each with a kink in it, and drill a lot more holes. That is poor Neal's fate - drilling holes all day long.

 

Wednesday with Usketeers at Broadway.

A mizzley day, but ideal for laying Thermalite blocks, which need to be damp when laid.

Three Usketeers came to Broadway to do the block laying. This has always been the intention, once the two fences at Toddington were constructed.

 

The first thing to do was to fit some 4ins insulation, starting in the NW corner. The blue plinth was high enough for two courses of Thermalite blocks.

 

 

These blocks are very lightweight, but have good insulation qualities. Hence they are easy to cut with a big saw. One end has to be reduced to fit inside the stanchion.

 

After quite a bit of discussing and experimenting, the first blocks were laid down, and it was already time for tea.

At Toddington we got into the habit of sitting in the cafe for this, and luckily there is one at Broadway. So we went there, and watched the DMU come in. Just two adults were on board, plus a few children.

 

The coffee at Broadway is very nice, and if you have a Cappucino, you get the company crest sprinkled in cocoa on top of the foamy milk. The shape for this was home made by a volunteer.

Perhaps a last look at the three car DMU that is for sale? There are no official news about it to write about though, we shall have to wait and see what the plan is.

The Usketeers weren't the only ones to sit by the cafe, the Broadway maintenance gang was there too.

With coffee consumed, we got back to the blocks.

Here you can see insulation and blocks going in.

The next train was rather larger, and fuller too. Our departmental director was on the footplate, and waved at us enthusiastically

 

Once round the corner, blocks were laid across the end, with concrete blocks along the back of the fireplace, as these will need to support the weight of the chimney.

Neal also came to support us, and busied himself with the making of a former for the two doors. As we don't have the door frames yet, these are being put up so that we can lay bricks around them.

By the middle of the afternoon one set of formers was up. The sky then began to darken, echoing the forecast which said rain at the end of the afternoon.

Neal came and double checked the work.

We got the end wall done, up to two blocks high, when it started to rain, so that was that for the day.

 

 

 

A look over the fence - EA, Northleigh Bridge 

As an add-on to the EA update at Loxhore two weeks ago, a fascinating presentation was given by Chris Duffell on the disconnected L&B railway bridge 19 at Northleigh, and an option for reinstatement.

With Chris's kind agreement, we give below a number of his slides taken from that presentation. The thought behind it is that, yes, after 90 years each section of trackbed has its challenges, but they can be overcome, one by one. This is one way that the road bridge 19 could be reinstated.

 

Copyright: Google Maps

Bridge 19 is where the L&B trackbed, in the bottom of the Yeo valley, starts to climb after Collard bridge. On the map bridge 19 is to the right of the word 'campsite', and after that the trackbed continues south of the road to Chelfham. EA own this part of the trackbed.

 

 

This is Collard bridge, just to give you an idea of what the buried road bridge looks like, which was in the same style. EA also own this part of the trackbed.

 

A few yards uphill from Collard bridge the trackbed curves right, and where it used to pass under the road there is now a pile of infill.

This 1904 map shows how the trackbed did an 'S' curve under the road, while the old road did a rather more acute zig-zag over it.

This old photograph looking downhill shows the zig-zag in the distance, with the trackbed rising towards Chelfham on the left.

Chris also had a useful screenshot from a film taken just before closure. You can see the resemblance with Collard bridge. (we think he means bridge 19, as bridge 17 is a river bridge)

 

 

After closure the old road bridge was blocked off underneath with a rock wall, but left intact.

This 1960s map shows how the road was moved over onto the infilled trackbed, while the original road alignment became a layby, and the bridge was left to one side.

This shot of the new road alignment shows how the original trackbed, in a cutting here, was infilled and used to make the road straighter.

But the old roadbed is still there. It's gated off, and used as a council storage area.

In 1971 it was in use as a layby, and you could still see the bridge parapets, recognisable by the white coloured bricks, also used on Chelfham viaduct. (and some houses on the Goodleigh road out of Barnstaple)

That the original bridge was still there was unknown to the volunteers, until they had a little archaeological dig on their side of the fence.

This is what they found. A retaining wall at the top of the cutting leading to the bridge, and at the end of the trench, the head wall of the bridge itself. It was still there.

The retaining wall did not go all the way to the bottom of the cutting, as the geology here is solid rock. So the retaining wall was only necessary for the upper portion.

This is a close up of the arch with four rings of bricks, and the bottom of the parapet wall.

Further digging revealed the white brick abutment, and the infill of rough stone, visible in the black and white photograph further up. It's all still there.

Now that we know more about the site, and what remains of the original structures, Chris has made an informal proposal to show how a reinstated road over rail bridge could be built.

Using the original road bed through the former layby and council depot, the road could cross the railway on a more diagonal path slightly downhill from the original bridge. It could be built while the current arrangements are still in place, hence with little disturbance, and it would leave the original brick bridge intact, although unused.

This is a very elegant solution. Please note that it is not a formal proposal, and it is not funded. It is merely an idea, to show how a problem could be overcome, in an elegant way.

No doubt once EA have assembled a sufficient length of trackbed, then more thought could be devoted to reinstate the bridge, and look for funding to do it. A legacy for example would go a long way here.